Alejandro Escovedo had a near-fatal bout of hepatitis C in 2003, but he's regained his health. "I feel really good; I feel strong," he says. "Musically, I feel very glad. I'm a better guitar player, a better songwriter." (Todd Wolfson)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- New songs, new players, new venue.

Alejandro Escovedo's fans can expect some significant changes on Friday when he returns to Birmingham for a 9 p.m. concert.

First of all, don't make tracks for the WorkPlay theater, although Escovedo has made it his performance home here in recent years.

This weekend's show is set for Bottletree Cafe in Avondale, a smaller space that exudes street credibility and artistic cool.

"I'm really happy to play in a bar again," said Escovedo, 61. "And I like playing in Birmingham."

The Tex-Mex musician has some fresh material to showcase on the Bottletree stage, pulled from his 2012 album, "Big Station." The record rocks hard, as befits Escovedo's punk roots, but its lyrics make sharp-eyed observations about the world and its melodies have a graceful heft.

Escovedo didn't reveal his set list during a recent phone interview, but "Sally Was a Cop" (about the drug war in Mexico) and "Bottom of the World" (a future-shock meditation on Austin) are likely candidates. Both were written by Escovedo and Chuck Prophet, who previously teamed for the records "Real Animal" (2008) and "Street Songs of Love" (2010).

"They're the songs that shaped the record," Escovedo said. "What Chuck and I do, when we're writing together, is take a song and almost draw it like a storyboard. ... What he brings to the table is a really detailed journalistic approach to the songs. I write more emotionally. We make a good team in that respect."

Escovedo, known for his poetic introspection, said he's looking outward on "Big Station." The overall tone is tougher and grittier; his words pose questions instead of providing answers.

In his offstage hours, though, Escovedo remains a reflective guy. He's pondering a book -- part memoir, part scrapbook -- that would include song verses, drawings and other images. He's also been taking stock of his career, which spans about four decades.

Cover art for Alejandro Escovedo's "Big Station."

"I'm thinking a lot about how I'm going to present my music as I start to wind down," Escovedo said. "At this present time -- now so, more than ever -- I'm thinking about what I've done, where I'm going to go, thinking about my kids." (He has seven of them, ages 44 to 9.)

"Looking back, I feel good about where I've been," he continued. "I don't have any regrets in my life. Maybe there are moments where you feel you should have turned left instead of right. I have a sense that music has been a good friend to me."

Two close friends will be absent from the stage, however, on this return to Birmingham. Guitarist David Pulkingham has left Escovedo's band, the Sensitive Boys, to focus on a solo career. His longtime drummer, Hector Munoz, is gone, as well.

"Hector, after 26 years, just kind of got a little bored with what we'd been doing all that time," Escovedo said. "And I wanted to do an album, and change the sound. I like new situations and configurations."

Guitarist Billy White and drummer Chris Searles are part of the equation now, along with bassist Bobby Daniel, an Austin transplant from Birmingham.

"This band has become real close," Escovedo said. "We're playing insanely well together. Bobby has been that person I've kind of been looking for all my life in a band, like my brother was in the True Believers. He's just a like-minded person who's cool and loves records. He has the same enthusiasm."